The four teams at the bottom of the promedio come next May remains unclear but Tigre and Belgrano, both currently occupying two of those positions will be strong candidates despite El Matador coming from behind to snatch a dramatic win over their rivals in Córdoba.
Tigre’s victory provides a slender glimmer of hope as the side sit bottom of the table while for Belgrano it was a wonderful opportunity to end the year on a high and potentially outside the relegation zone, had El Pirata secured three points. Defeat leaves the club in something of a crisis over the summer break.
A lacklustre first half gave way for a dramatic second period and when Juan Brunetta superbly volleyed Belgrano in front shortly after the restart, supporters inside the Alberdi sensed that maybe their team could chalk up only a third win of the season.
That was relatively short lived though as Tigre began to pressure and having already gone close at one corner saw substitute Hugo Silveira eventually head the visitors level.
Belgrano pushed forward in search of a winner and deep in stoppage time Tigre countered. Federico González still had plenty to do but steadied himself, touched the ball out of his feet and rifled a shot from the edge of the box past César Rigamonti to nick all three points.
Tigre will have a mountain to climb in order to avoid the drop but Belgrano, who for a while still looked to have just enough to survive, are in real danger and need to use this off-season to regroup and add some quality if they too don’t slide into the B Nacional.
Belgrano 1 – 2 Tigre
Patronato also look increasingly destined for relegation but did manage to battle back and claim a point from the visit of Vélez Sarsfield. The draw will have left both frustrated as it does little to help the home side while Vélez came from behind with ten men to lead only to surrender their advantage in an unexpectedly thrilling encounter.
Quick out of the blocks Gabriel Carabajal slotted Patronato in front after a minute, catching the Vélez defence sleeping to break the deadlock and it could have been worse for the visitors when Pablo Ledesma rattled the crossbar shortly after.
However, Gabriel Heinze’s side woke up and following a burst down the right by Agustín Bouzat, the impressive Nicolás Domínguez levelled it up with only a quarter of an hour played.
Goalkeeper Lucas Hoyos gifted Patronato their lead ten minutes later, dawdling on the ball before his weak clearance was volleyed back into the empty net by Mauricio Sperduti and before half time, Vélez were dealt another blow when defender Luis Abram was sent off following an off the ball incident.
Hoyos would make amends with a point-blank save in the second half before Matías Vargas wrestled back the match in favour of Vélez. The talented 21-year-old, who looks destined to leave Vélez before too long, cut inside onto his right foot to bend in a superb equaliser and minutes later dashed in behind to side-step Renzo Vera and find the bottom corner.
Vélez just needed to see it out but eight minutes from time a free-kick to the back post found Agustín Sandona and the Patronato defender headed the home side level.
golazo argentino 